


There are No Shadows in the Snow

by Vu1p3cu14



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Dimension Travel, Genius Midoriya Izuku, Hero Midoriya Izuku, Pro Hero Midoriya Izuku, Smart Midoriya Izuku, Tired Nico di Angelo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29973915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vu1p3cu14/pseuds/Vu1p3cu14
Summary: As a favor to his father, Nico is supposed to find out what could have possibly happened in this world to excuse the influx of souls into the Underworld and fix it. He could only hope it wasn't another Gaia situation that he'd have to deal with on his own. But when he falls face-first into a fluffy pile of snow and is accosted by a green bunny who buys him lunch, he realizes that it's so, so much worse.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Midoriya Izuku
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	There are No Shadows in the Snow

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting in the wings for a while because I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be a one-shot or if I wanted to make it an actual story which I have _so_ many ideas for. I still haven't decided, but I thought I'd post this and see what happens, then go from there. 
> 
> Rick Riordan is a god and I don't own either of these characters, no matter how much I love them.

Nico really didn’t know what to expect when his father activated the dimensional portal, but what he didn’t expect was to find himself dropped unceremoniously, face-first into a fluffy pile of snow. Sputtering, Nico wiped some of the cold off of his face while he took in his surroundings. At least I landed in the snow, he thought, looking around at the rather uninviting concrete sidewalk only a few feet away from him.

It looked like he was dropped into a park somewhere in Japan, based on the architecture and occasional kimono down the street, but it wasn’t the Japan that he knew from all of his previous travels. Things were… different somehow. He wasn’t sure how, but something was off. Why couldn’t his father have warned him about the world before he sent him here? Any and all information would be appreciated. It would be especially nice to know why he was dropped in Japan, of all places.

“Wow! I’ve never seen that color portal before!” A voice chirped to his left in Japanese. Nico looked up just in time to see a green figure with bunny ears bounce up to him. “Was that your quirk? Where’d you come from? Is that a black sword? Is it real? Can you use it? Why do you have a sword? Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” The rapid-fire questions left Nico completely disoriented, he could barely keep up with what the green person was saying and resisted the urge to draw his sword. They paused for long enough to breathe then looked at Nico expectantly. Right… Questions.

“Uh, I’m fine, thank you. My name is Di Angelo.” The person smiled from under their mask, and Nico had to squint from the brightness.

“I’m Midoryia Izuku! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Nico bowed his head from where he was sitting in the snow, then took the offered hand to help him up. Wow, bunny’s a lot stronger than they look. What’s with this outfit anyway? He took a moment to really look at the green person in front of him. The hand he was still hounding was covered in a padded white glove with an interface on the wrist that looked way too high tech for Nico to ever hope to understand. The green bunny suit was really some sort of strong fabric that clung to an extremely muscular body, someone built more for speed than power. The green eyes that peered at him from under the mask were a bright viridian green, and they seemed to pierce right through to his very soul. Something about these eyes reminded him very strongly of Annabeth, the razor-sharp intellect and the danger behind them that made her so much more terrifying than her boyfriend could ever be.

“So where’d you come from, Di Angelo-kun?” Izuku asked excitedly, and Nico realized he had been staring and flushed in embarrassment. Izuku was very easy to stare at, in Nico’s professional opinion.

“Well, this is Japan, isn’t it?’ Nico asked instead. When Izuku nodded, Nico asked, “What’s the date?” Izuku didn’t even blink. Like he’d expected the question. That made this a lot easier for both of them.

“November 30th, 2154,” Izuku stated matter-of-factly, and Nico was grateful that he’d included the year, but that meant that this was over a century into the future and for Styx’s sake father! A little warning would have been nice! Wait… Had bunny-boy said sword..?

“Okay…” Nico hesitated. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do next. Hades’s instructions were, ‘find out what’s wrong with the world and fix it’ since he was irritated at the abundance of work it was leaving him and the other death gods with for the past 2 centuries. “So, probably a dumb question, can you think of any significant events in the past 200 years or so that might cause… issues?” Nice going, Nico. This time, Izuku did blink but gave him more a look of appraisal than one that meant that bunny-boy was considering calling an ambulance over concern of head trauma or mental illness.

Instead of answering, Izuku smiled brightly again and said, “You wanna get something to eat, Di Angelo-kun? I’m almost done with my patrol, and you look like a twig, no offense.” Patrol? “And I have a funny feeling that you don’t particularly want to involve the police with whatever you’re doing here, right?” Bunny’s even smarter than he looks. Izuku sighed and muttered, “I hope I don’t lose my license over this...”

“You’re right about the police, but what do you mean ‘license’?” Nico asked. Izuku smiled and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Ahh, well, how about we get lunch and we’ll play 20 questions.” Without waiting for an answer, he took Nico’s elbow and started dragging him along next to him. He could probably pull away if he wanted to, but bunny-boy didn’t seem to have malicious intentions, so Nico let Izuku lead. “I’ll take you to the shop and even if you do have some of this century’s currency, I’ll treat you,” Izuku said playfully. Rude. But he’s probably right. And who am I to turn down free food? “I have to head back to the agency to get changed, and I can probably convince Sho to hold my paperwork for later.” Nico couldn’t think of anything to say, but Izuku seemed perfectly content keeping the conversation going on his own. “I’ll have to leave you for a bit but I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m probably one of the only people around here other than Nedzu-san, maybe, that would believe and help you, so it’s probably in your best interest to wait for me to come back rather than running off beforehand.” Nico paused and Izuku stopped with him, giving him a lopsided smile. Holy shit is this guy a- “Not a mind reader, I swear. I just play too much chess with Nedzu-san is all.”

“I have so many questions, but I’ll ask the most important one first; what do you think you believe and why?” Nico demanded. Bunny-boy is wayyy too smart and it was starting to freak Nico out. Izuku took a deep breath.

“A time traveler at the very least. You don’t know about quirks and you aren’t from Japan. You weren’t expecting to be here either; you looked surprised when you heard me speak Japanese, then fumbled to switch at first like you weren’t used to the language, so it isn’t your native language. Also, your eyebrows twitched when I used your family name and when I introduced myself using my family name first, you also looked uncomfortable with honorifics.” Fuck. “You were speaking coherently and asking intelligent questions, you also remembered what the police are and that whatever your goal is, you don’t want to involve them and you didn’t show any sign of amnesia, your eyes are properly dilated so I could rule out memory loss and head trauma.” Holy shit, does this guy even breathe? “You knew you wouldn’t have the right currency once I mentioned it and you don’t know who Nedzu-san or I am, and honestly the two of us are pretty well known so that’s pretty telling in of itself.” Who even is this guy, what in Hades? “Therefore, you aren’t from this time, aren’t from Japan, didn’t expect to end up here from wherever you traveled from so either your powers or your portal wasn’t very accurate or you weren’t in control of your destination one way or another. Most of the time, space is relatively linear in the context of quirks or superpowers so it’s odd for you to move through both space and time simultaneously or in one action or jump so you might not be a time traveler at all, possibly something completely different.”

“What. The. Fuck,” Nico whispered quietly but with conviction. Bunny-boy had gotten all of that from micromannerisims that Nico hadn’t even noticed himself doing? Green bunnies are scary. Izuku giggled at the dumbstruck look on his face and Nico made a conscious effort to close his gaping mouth.

“Did I mention the sword?” Izuku said innocently. Nico’s jaw dropped even further, remembering one of Izuku’s first questions when they first met. Could this mortal see through the Mist? “Should I be worried about that?”

“You can see that??” He asked, slightly panicked. Izuku gave him an odd look.

“Should I not?” Izuku said, still trying to control his giggles, “Come on, Mr. Di Angelo-san, time travel must be very tiring.” He came around behind him and pushed gently. Nico let him, still reeling at just how smart bunny-boy is and that he can see through the Mist. He was either the best or the worst possible person for Nico to run into right off the bat and he couldn’t decide which one. Probably both. “Hmm, do you want me to call you by your given name?” Izuku asked, startling him.

“Uh, well, I won’t say no, but I don’t want you to do something that makes you unco-” Nico started hesitantly, but Izuku’s cheery voice cut him off.

“Great! Then you can call me Izuku too! No honorifics, I think, since you probably don’t use those either,” Izuku said happily, bouncing up and down just like a bunny.

“Okay… My name’s Nico,” he said hesitantly. Izuku nodded and mouthed the word, rolling it around in his mouth. He grinned.

“We’re here Nico-k-, I hope you like it,” Izuku said as they came to a stop in front of an American-style diner. That’s… surprisingly thoughtful. Bunny’s way too nice. Someone’s gonna take advantage of him one day. He reminds me of- Nico cut himself off from that train of thought. He didn’t need to be thinking of that guy right now. Izuku didn’t miss the change in Nico’s mood, but he didn’t mention it, he just held open the door, and his smile softened a little around the edges.

When they walked in, the waitress waiting to seat them, a middle-aged woman wearing too much makeup, gasped, staring starstruck at Izuku. “Oh dear me! Deku-sama, please come in, come in!” she said ecstatically. Izuku’s whole demeanor changed. It was subtle if you weren’t used to being behind the scenes by the side of leaders and heroes like Nico was. It was the same shift that happened when Percy or Annabeth or Jason or even the gods themselves whenever they saw someone who needs them; as a warrior or a leader.

Nico liked to call it the ‘Hero’s Smile.’ Izuku’s back straightened, a broad yet comforting smile stretched across his face and his head tilted down slightly, something barely perceptible. His body language was relaxed but Nico could tell that he could leap into actions without a moment’s notice. It was odd.

Most demigods pretending to be ‘heroes’ that Nico had run into were fake. False smiles, manufactured words. Hypocrites the lot of them. But he could tell at a glance that Izuku wasn’t like them. He was like Percy and Annabeth and Jason. A good warrior and a great leader, a real hero. It was a gut feeling, Nico knew to trust his gut. He’d never been more sure of anything in his life. Now he knew for sure that sticking with Izuku was the right choice.

Nico watched the lady bow several times in rapid succession then asking to shake Izuku’s hand. Nico decided to just stay out of the way. “Oh, my daughter is such a big fan of yours, could I get an autograph?” Izuku chuckled and nodded, giving the lady the Hero’s Smile while she fawned over him. “They’ll never believe that I met the Hero Deku!” Oh, so he is some sort of hero to these people. That explains the costume. Sort of.

After giving several autographs, Izuku was able to extricate himself from his fans long enough to tell them that he was only walking his friend here and now he had to go. He gave Nico an apologetic look, to which Nico shrugged and shooed him away.

While he sat in a booth, waiting for Izuku to return, Nico reviewed the information he had so far. Too much yet not enough. A futuristic society where teleporting is normal? He wondered vaguely what the Mist did to his sword. It seemed like anything could be considered ‘normal’ here. He also wondered if demi-gods still existed in this world. It was easy to get lost in his own head, even in an alternate dimension.

Izuku came back about 45 minutes later in what Nico assumed was his ‘civilian persona’, which was a nerd in glasses, about his age, around 20 or so. It kinda reminded him of Clark Kent. Now Nico could see the fluffy green hair that had been covered by his hood and the square-shaped glasses he was wearing framed his wide green eyes well. Nico recognized him right away. Even looking like a nerd, he still eluded the same ‘hero’ presence. Apparently, Nico was the only one who did though, since he got past the front register without a problem.

“Ahh, sorry that took so long!” Izuku said, sliding into the booth across from him. Nico sighed and shook his head.

“I’ll forgive you as long as you hurry up and tell me what happened 200 or so years ago,” Nico said tiredly. Izuku gave him an indecipherable look before he started speaking without comment.

“It all began in China, Qingqing City. There was news that a baby that gave off light was born. Ever since then, superpowers were discovered in various places, and time passed without the cause being identified. Before we knew it, the supernatural became normal, and dreams became reality. The world has become a superhuman society, and about 80% of the world’s population now has some kind of special trait. In this world swirling with chaos, the profession that everyone once dreamed about and admired came into the limelight. That profession is…” Izuku paused to take a breath.

“Heroes,” Nico finished for him with a grimace. Izuku nodded with an apologetic expression on his face, watching Nico take it all in. Nico waved him on.

“Along with the superpowers came an explosive increase in crime. As the country was stuck in the slow progress in drastic law reforms, courageous people started performing heroic acts from out of comic books. Guarding against superpowers and defending against evil. Heroes were soon accepted by the public, and it was established as an official position. Based on their performance, they are paid by the government and gain renown among the masses.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that people are being paid to be superheroes?!” Nico asked, astonished. Izuku nodded. Nico dropped his forehead on the table with a thunk and groaned. “Fuck.” Well, it’s pretty obvious what happened to create such an influx of souls from this universe. Having too much or unnatural power can change people. No wonder so many people have been dying. “Fuuuck.” He groaned. Izuku chuckled from above him.

“Does that sound like what you were looking for?” he asked in an odd voice that Nico didn’t have the energy to place. Nico nodded with his head still on the table. What it sounds like is that Hades had both underestimated the problem and overestimated Nico. After all,

How does one fix Heroes?

**Author's Note:**

> Soo I'm still on the fence about whether to keep going with this or not. If I were to expand it, I'd basically start anew with the same concept so please let me know what you think in the comments on what I should do.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! <3


End file.
